How often do they wash the towels and sheets?

[LiLBxQt]

How often do all of you change you're sheets at your own house? I bet for the majority isnt everyday, twice a week, or even once a week! So what's the difference when you're at sea in you're temporary bed? It just feels nice having someone else do it for ya so you figure hey! It's the cabin stwards job, why not have them do it as often as they are willing! For the amount of work they do, I don't think they get paid enough and on top of that, for the cruise snobs that request 45 million things from their steward... I think if lots of cruisers were in their shoes, you would most likely want to tell the cruiser off... LoL But that's just my opinion :p Bring on the fight!

[big_duck]

For those that require their sheets be changed everyday, I recommend Depends.

[GayleR]

For those that require their sheets be changed everyday, I recommend Depends.

 

Maybe it's for other reasons :eek:

[gigem85]

Maybe it's for other reasons :eek:

 

Watch out for the wet spots .........:eek:

[ParrotHead79]

LOL...there are people here that think you are serious......

ROFLMAO.........;)

 

I KNOW!!!

 

Bunch of mangy hippies!!!:) :) :) :)

[Ashkins]

there has to be some reasons they clean the towels everyday. If there is a sickness or something on board it is a good thing to have them clean everyday as you don't know what is growing. Personally I wouldn't mind if they at least changed my pillow every night if it will help keep me from getting sick while aboard.

 

My last cruise in '04 I came home with a really bad sinus and ear infection. (from the salt water I am sure)

[Math4Aggies]

Are we actually talking about being "green" on a cruise by reducing the amount of laundry the cruise ship does? You must be kidding! Firstly, it is impossible to "save water" on a cruise ship. Secondly, cruising is in no way shape or form a "green" activity. Saving water on a ship is like planting a tree so you feel good about traveling around in your private jet telling the world to be more green -- completely worthless!

 

[etc deleted]

 

This has taken on a life of its own. Boy ask simple question! However, if we do some MATH [gasp], even a little bit helps. If we all say that what we do doesn't matter, then nothing really will happen. So, here it goes...

 

The Carnival website says " ... 200,000 people sailing aboard the Carnival fleet at any given time ... " see http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=200767&p=irol-prlanding.

 

If a room holds two people and if the room chooses to not get the sheets and towels washed that day we can say that perhaps 25 grams [around an ounce] of soap is saved and perhaps 100 liters of water that had to be heated from 20°C to 60°C [about 26 gallons raised from about 70°F to 140°F]. We can let the cold rinse go and any other even smaller concerns. Where does that put us in a year?

 

soap used per day = 200,000*25 = 5,000,000 grams or 5.5 tons per day. If people only washed every other day [or say 180 days per year], that is nearly a thousand tons of soap. Just for having the passengers get the sheets and towels done every other day. And, of course, the ocean was not designed to take all those soapy chemicals, so that just adds to the harm.

 

Now for the warming of the water...

 

100 liters * 1000cm^3/liter * 1 gm/cm^3 * 40°C * 4.186 joule/gram °C = 16,744,000 joules to warm the water. That unit is probably not familiar to most, so it also converts to about 4.65 kW-hr.

 

4.65 kW-hr * 100,000 cabins * 180 days of not using the hot water = 883,700,000 kW-hr. I won't try to guess at the efficency of the energy production on the ship, but that is a lot of energy.

 

Well, that was probably too much math/physics/chemistry for the readers, so I will just end with saying that doing nothing does nothing. I will try to make both small and large changes when I can.

 

janice

[tkportersat]

Change sheets everyday? That is just nuts........The room stewards do so much already, I wouldn't even dream of it. Just seems so unecessary, I mean are you really that dirty when you go to bed? 7 days on the same sheets is fine for me.

[cruzincurt]

Oh but cruising is a "green" activity.

 

Consider that typically 3500 some people are not home driving their cars around, sitting stalled in traffic, watering the grass, cooking food, doing laundry, watching TV, have their home AC turned down to 72 deg, running all the lights in the house, opening and closing the garage door, mowing the lawn......

 

All of the ship's waste is recycled, probably more than you do at home.

 

I take my carbon footprint with me on the ship.

 

Now wasteful is tying the balcony door open while the AC is running. The ship has to burn additional fuel to create electricity to run the AC. I would even guess that the ship's diesel exhaust is run through a flash evaporator to assist in generating some of the fresh water as well and the AC chiller heat output is used as hot gas reheat to dehumidify the air.

 

One set of sheets is enough for us as we probably only spend 4 hours a night under them.

[MizzCard]

How 'bout just some good 'ol common sense? :cool:

[jaddsnana]

Last year we went on a 10 day cruise to Alaska on Princess Regal and they didn't wash the sheets the whole time. New towels every day.

[jessemon]

This has taken on a life of its own. Boy ask simple question! However, if we do some MATH [gasp], even a little bit helps. If we all say that what we do doesn't matter, then nothing really will happen. So, here it goes...

 

The Carnival website says " ... 200,000 people sailing aboard the Carnival fleet at any given time ... " see http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=200767&p=irol-prlanding.

 

If a room holds two people and if the room chooses to not get the sheets and towels washed that day we can say that perhaps 25 grams [around an ounce] of soap is saved and perhaps 100 liters of water that had to be heated from 20°C to 60°C [about 26 gallons raised from about 70°F to 140°F]. We can let the cold rinse go and any other even smaller concerns. Where does that put us in a year?

 

soap used per day = 200,000*25 = 5,000,000 grams or 5.5 tons per day. If people only washed every other day [or say 180 days per year], that is nearly a thousand tons of soap. Just for having the passengers get the sheets and towels done every other day. And, of course, the ocean was not designed to take all those soapy chemicals, so that just adds to the harm.

 

Now for the warming of the water...

 

100 liters * 1000cm^3/liter * 1 gm/cm^3 * 40°C * 4.186 joule/gram °C = 16,744,000 joules to warm the water. That unit is probably not familiar to most, so it also converts to about 4.65 kW-hr.

 

4.65 kW-hr * 100,000 cabins * 180 days of not using the hot water = 883,700,000 kW-hr. I won't try to guess at the efficency of the energy production on the ship, but that is a lot of energy.

 

Well, that was probably too much math/physics/chemistry for the readers, so I will just end with saying that doing nothing does nothing. I will try to make both small and large changes when I can.

 

janice

Can you run that by me again ?

[Ashleezmom]

How often do all of you change you're sheets at your own house? I bet for the majority isnt everyday, twice a week, or even once a week! So what's the difference when you're at sea in you're temporary bed? It just feels nice having someone else do it for ya so you figure hey! It's the cabin stwards job, why not have them do it as often as they are willing! For the amount of work they do, I don't think they get paid enough and on top of that, for the cruise snobs that request 45 million things from their steward... I think if lots of cruisers were in their shoes, you would most likely want to tell the cruiser off... LoL But that's just my opinion :p Bring on the fight!

 

You are right, I usually change them once a week to every two weeks, unless they get unexpectedly dirty...and being an old married lady, it seems we sometimes have a little extra "fun" on our cruises then at home...so....I say, change them when they NEED to be changed. If they need to be changed we will throw them on the cabin floor with the towels...Room stewards understand that:D

[Skeeter1602]

Are we actually talking about being "green" on a cruise by reducing the amount of laundry the cruise ship does? You must be kidding! Firstly, it is impossible to "save water" on a cruise ship. Secondly, cruising is in no way shape or form a "green" activity. Saving water on a ship is like planting a tree so you feel good about traveling around in your private jet telling the world to be more green -- completely worthless!

 

Let's take a closer look at this issue. The ship gets all of its water from the ocean. Salt water is run through an Reverse Osmosis treatment system that removes the salt and other impurities. The salt and impurities are dumped back into the ocean -- right where they came from.

 

Next the fresh water is used to launder the sheets and towels. The dirty water is treated to remove the impurities and the clean fresh water is dumped back into the Ocean where it can again take on its load of salt. Basically, we're back to where we started.

 

I will grant that you save a little soap and electricity (which is generated by burning diesel fuel), so the overall pollution is the world is reduced somewhat, but not to a significant degree.

 

Now lets look closer at cruising in general. It has no societal purpose except to provide the cruisers entertainment and enjoyment. The cruise ship is constructed of things like steel, aluminum, copper and various plastics. To build the ship, millions of tons of iron ore, bauxite, and various copper bearing ores have to be mined, processed, smelted and otherwise manufactured to create the steel and aluminum. Crude oil has to be extracted, refined and turned into various plastics. Metal and oil processing are among the most "ungreen" processes on the planet, if you ask me.

 

Next, the ship has to generate all its own power, both for on-board use and propulsion. How does it do this? It burns either heavy fuel oil or diesel fuel. Where did this fuel come from. It was extracted form the earth as crude oil and refined. Again, not very "green".

 

So, if you want to be "green" and do something for the planet -- you need to give up cruising altogether. Using your towels twice is nothing but a "feel good" effort designed to trick the so-called "green" crowd into reducing the ships operating costs.

 

Personally, I think I'll just keep cruising, use my towels only once, hope my steward changes the sheets every day, and not try to pretend that I'm being "green".

 

Hey maybe I'll call Al Gore and buy a carbon credit -- yeah that'll save the planet! :rolleyes:

 

 

All this "hang a towel save the planet" crap the hotels and cruise lines do is save on labor costs!!!! Less towels to wash less people to pay!

 

Simple as that!

 

Oh and I think we are thinking the same thing about Al Gore and his carbon credits??? LOL What a joke!!

[Math4Aggies]

Skeeter1602 - I don't get it. Were you unable to follow my soap and energy saving discussion? It is nice if it saves labor, but I would prefer to think that the labor is spent somewhere else, rather than someone got fired b/c I don't get my sheets and towels washed daily. Maybe the person who is not washing my mostly clean linens can be wiping down the germ infected surfaces that I have read that I need to worry about on the ship. Maybe I will get two towel animals rather than one with the extra time.

 

I see it as they save money but I save a tiny bit of energy and waste. And a tiny bit times a BIG number is a pretty big number [to summarize my post yesterday]. And at home, besides saving MY gas/electric bill some change and my bill for Tide, it saves me time since we wash linens every other week [unless circumstances dictate otherwise].

 

And it is still optional, so go ahead and enjoy your fresh linens. I have yet to stay at a hotel that refused to wash the linens daily if that is what the customer prefers. I like having choices. If Carnival could have a card where a cabin can see what the choices are, that would be great for everyone. And it could default to daily for folks like you and some others on this thread.

 

Janice

[I Luv Crusin]

I have noticed the same thing, my steward would change all the towels even if they were on the rack.

 

This has happened on all my cruises. I hang my towels to use them and they get replaced. It slightly annoys me. It's NOT a big deal but I'm trying to help and then the stewards don't even follow their own "rules".

 

I probably would like my sheets changed 1/2 way through the cruise.

[dan40]

I wish my flexible memory could recall the exact numbers but those days are gone [don't remember where they went] but anyhoo,

 

Green Cruising??? Today's ships burn 2 GALLONS OF FUEL FOR EVERY FOOT THEY MOVE. Once we digest that stat [even if they got 5 feet per gal.], all other thoughts about "GREENESS" fly out the porthole. Just hain't no sech thang as green cruisin, period.

 

Dan

[hollaatya35]

On the sensation our sheets were changed daily and towels were replaced as soon as one was used seemed like it.

[Calicruiser101]

All this "hang a towel save the planet" crap the hotels and cruise lines do is save on labor costs!!!! Less towels to wash less people to pay!

 

Simple as that!

 

Oh and I think we are thinking the same thing about Al Gore and his carbon credits??? LOL What a joke!!

 

Are you saying you don't purchase carbon credits before you cruise, shame on you. Big Blowhard AL will be very sad with you as you know he does all he can to help the world stay green. Please, Please, insert severe sarcasm here while reading this.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: What a joke is right.

[sleepless]

Personally, I have them change the sheets averyday. twice a day if I take a nap. I refuse to sleep on the same sheets twice. I also have new pillows and blankets brought in daily. Same goes for towels. If I dry my hands or face, I expect that towel to be replaced. Heck, it's not my water. Why not go crazy. I may be a snob, but that's me, and it's my right. :^)

 

 

Who changes your sheets at home? And how many loads of sheet laundry do you do at home in a week? And last but not least, how many sets of sheets do you own for your bed? :p I used to own and operate a Bed & Breakfast Inn. I made way too many beds and washed way to many loads of sheets and towels. I wouldn't dream of changing my bed sheets each and every day.:eek:

[FitzLA]

How often do all of you change you're sheets at your own house? I bet for the majority isnt everyday, twice a week, or even once a week! So what's the difference when you're at sea in you're temporary bed? It just feels nice having someone else do it for ya so you figure hey! It's the cabin stwards job, why not have them do it as often as they are willing! For the amount of work they do, I don't think they get paid enough and on top of that, for the cruise snobs that request 45 million things from their steward... I think if lots of cruisers were in their shoes, you would most likely want to tell the cruiser off... LoL But that's just my opinion :p Bring on the fight!

 

I only change my sheets once a week at home, and that is only because my cleaning lady does it for me. lol. On a cruise, I go the whole week without new sheets. Don't need them cleaned in 7 days, unless they get very dirty. As far as the towels, I have them changed every 2-3 days. No biggie. Saving the environment or not, there is just no need to change every day.

[rgreenpc]

Are you saying you don't purchase carbon credits before you cruise, shame on you. Big Blowhard AL will be very sad with you as you know he does all he can to help the world stay green. Please, Please, insert severe sarcasm here while reading this.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: What a joke is right.

 

Watch out.. he created the Internet... you may find yourself off CC very shortly.

[dan40]

During WWII, German U-boats had 17 bunks for 51 enlisted men. So if a sailor was off duty, he could not go lay down as someone else was sleeping in his/their bunk. It was called, "triple hot-bunking." Their patrols were planned for 90 days, so on the 45th day, the blue gingham sheets were turned over. A sailor was considered very lucky when he was the first to sleep on the "clean" freshly turned sheets.

 

Could this have been the beginning of "Green" cruising??:D

 

{It should come as no surprise that the refit/repair crew that went into their subs upon returning to home base, had to wear gas masks against the aroma within.}:eek::(

 

 

Dan

[Math4Aggies]

That helps keep things in perspective, doesn't it. I have made my decision [will ask for new towels only if the old ones are left on the floor and new sheets only if the sheets are on the floor]. But it is interesting to check back and see these kind of comments.

 

Janice:)

[Math4Aggies]

My connections gets weird sometimes....

 

Janice:)